Visiting The Worlds of The Jim Henson Company
Many weeks ago now, I had the chance to sit down with Amanda Slack-Smith, the curator of the newest exhibition at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art, ‘Make Believe Magic: The Worlds of The Jim Henson Company’. As evident in that interview, Amanda’s passion for her work and for this exhibit was palpable, and with my press pass already emailed to me, I counted down the days until my partner Jess and I would take some time off work, hop on a plane from Melbourne, and go visit Big Bird.
Finally, a couple of weeks ago, the day arrived.
I’m going to try and explain this exhibition to you in a way that would excite you, but doesn’t spoil the entire thing. It would be easy for me to just show you every single image I took (and considering I went through twice, I took a LOT of them), but I want you to have the same emotions and experiences I did as I walked through that day. So while there are still a lot of images here, just know that there’s a lot I’m not showing you.
The exhibition starts right as you walk in the foyer, with puppets from the ‘Jim Henson’s Inspired Silliness’ cruise ship show waiting to greet you. Already you get such a great look at these characters, all expertly posed by members of the Create Shop team. One thing that really impressed me was just how few of these puppets are behind glass. No, you can’t touch them, and yes, there are security guards everywhere. But you’re able to get extremely close to see the details in all these characters.
That might be one of the best parts of this entire thing – getting an entire newfound appreciation for how these characters are made. I remember looking at Snuffy’s trunk, the fleece didn’t look anything like I imagined it would. The turkey feathers all over him that I’ve just never really noticed on TV. Seeing the eyes on Oscar the Grouch. Or the wooden detail in Muppet Treasure Island’s Statler and Waldorf.
It was fun too walking through with Jess. While she’s extremely supportive and loving about my Muppet fandom, she’s much more into watching Friends or that awful Mormon Wives show. But she too enjoyed seeing what goes in to these characters and these franchises, and learning just a little more about them all. I hope as the casual fan walks through over the coming months, they’re able to appreciate what they’re seeing and perhaps become a little more curious about the entire thing.
There are obscure characters all over this thing, even a couple I barely recognised. Sure, almost immediately you’re greeted by Herry and Prairie Dawn, but turn the corner and Taminella Grinderfall is standing over you, right in front of Mildred Huxtetter. The exhibit’s circuit isn’t set up to be chronological, so there’s the added surprise of never quite knowing what might be waiting for you in the next room.
The giant draw for this entire exhibition is The Great Hall from Fraggle Rock: Back To The Rock. This set is massive, and it’s not even the entire thing. Taking nine shipping containers, it stands almost to the roof with characters like four of the the Fraggle Five, Pogey and Jamdolin posed throughout. Excitingly, you can wander behind the set and take a good look at the hidden holes, nooks and crannys that the puppeteers could use to do their thing. They’ve also vandalised the entire back of it with markers, all for you to see.
Also in the Fraggle room is Doc’s studio and Boober’s cave. Doc’s studio is so much more detailed than I realised, with so much to see. Inside we find Sprocket and Gobo, and credit must go to Jason Weber who flew from New York to pose the puppets seen throughout. Sprocket really looks like he’s mid-stride, a sense of motion that I heard multiple people comment on during both my visits. And yes, you can take a photo looking out of the Fraggle hole in the wall. Just be careful, because the bricks are actually styrofoam.
There were some unexpected surprises throughout. I didn’t know The Ghost of Christmas Present would be there, nor the boat figureheads Statler and Waldorf from Muppet Treasure Island. Each time I walked into a new room, I had to take a moment to process everything. I highly recommend taking your time. I was lucky enough to go see it twice, and I think I preferred my second visit purely due to the fact that I didn’t rush out of excitement. Jess did a wonderful job keeping me present and helping me appreciate what was in front of me.
The question is – should you visit GOMA and check out ‘Make Believe Magic’? Well, if you’re in Australia, I say absolutely. Flights to Brisbane on Jetstar are relatively cheap, and it’ll be well worth your money. But what if you’re international? That’s a personal call I can’t make for you. I will say, however, that Brisbane is a beautiful city, in the beautiful state of Queensland, where there is an awful lot to do and see. Australia as a whole is a wonderful place to visit. So while I won’t necessarily say ‘You should fly to Australia just for this exhibition’, I will say ‘Australia is worth your time, and so is Brisbane’ and then wink at you. Is it wise to fly across the world for a 2 hour museum trip? That’s not for me to say. But you only live once, and maybe you’ll bump into an Irwin (Australia Zoo is only an hour drive away).
(Oh, and by the way, they recently banned people from bringing puppets to the exhibition, so… don’t do that, I guess)
By Jarrod Fairclough
